1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to a method and an apparatus for identification or authentication of a subject device, and more particularly to an apparatus and a method of generating a physical identifier for an authentication of a storage device.
2. Description of the Related Art
As technologies such as a Digital Rights Management (DRM) and a copy protection become necessary in order to protect contents, technologies for authenticating storage devices including a Non-Volatile Memory (NVM) device (e.g., a Solid State Disk (SSD), a flash memory card, etc.) that store such contents, also become necessary in order to implement the copy protection. More specifically, technology for verifying the suitability of various aspects of HardWare (H/W) of the storage device, as well as verifying encryption technology of the content itself, has become necessary.
CPRM (Content Protection for Recordable Media), which is a DRM technology for an SD (Secure Digital) card, and AACS (Advanced Access Content System), which is a DRM technology for Blu-ray® discs, provide a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) or an authentication method for a storage device using other cryptographic technologies. However, such a Public Key Infrastructure (PKI) or authentication method do not prevent duplication of the storage device itself.
The conventional chip design has a technology capable of identifying problematic H/W by inserting a watermark or a fingerprint in a chip of the H/W. However, this technology is merely used for detecting security piracy after the piracy has already occurred. Therefore, the technology has disadvantages in that the technology cannot prevent the duplication in advance, is inefficient in mass production, and is difficult to be used for verifying the suitability of a device in a transaction point (i.e., at the time and location of a specified transaction).
Due to these disadvantages, contents providers take a passive attitude toward the possibility of establishing a business for distributing contents through hardware such as a flash memory card, etc.